Three words that carry so much power in our lives. These states can often be overlooked in our busy, noisy world. Each, when practiced regularly can bring us to the realization that our happiness comes from within.

Simplicity shows us we can quickly return to our Highest Self just by breathing and touching our heart. (HeartMath Institute, Gregg Braden).

Happiness springs up easily from that stillness within because Joy is our true Nature.

“The Music of Silence” is a beautiful demonstration of these principles. It is an autobiographical movie about the life of one of my all time favorite singers, Andrea Bocelli. His singing and voice/life coach teaches him that in order to have the best depth of quality from his voice he needs to practice Silence.

Andrea has achieved more than his best quality by practicing silence. He has achieved transcendence in his singing. I had the opportunity of seeing one of his live performances. The audience, including me, experienced that transcendence; we cried, felt love and had goosebumps together throughout the performance. Speechless, awed and happy I left that concert feeling the high self and spirit of that incredible beingness of Andrea Bocelli. Truly inspiring.

When we are in touch with our inner stillness, silence, the simplicity of our God Self has a chance to guide us and bring the smallest and greatest aspects of our lives into transcendence. My mom’s famous Lemon Meringue pie was definitely transcendent. Never to be duplicated. As a child I would join her sitting on the couch and ask her, “What are you doing?” She would respond, “I’m just Being.” “Oh, Being.” I always remembered that feeling that it was OK to just Be. Now I realize that her beingness and stillness went right into her transcendent Lemon Meringue pie and all of her cooking.

We all have very unique, transcendent, Divine qualities to share that can be encouraged to make themselves known by practicing mindfulness, meditation, stillness, simplicity and just Being. My wish is that you will know how incredibly wonderful you are and that you will share your own transcendent qualities even if just for yourself.

I want to share my favorite forms of these practices that have been my personal bridges of love-light. I love joy, fun and happiness. These activities of light have helped me truly and immeasurably to be happy, be joy and be myself.

Often friends tell me of the upset and anxiety in their lives and I ask, “Do you meditate?” As often the response is, “No, I don’t have time.” My favorite response I borrowed from a zen proverb: “You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.”

I’ve experienced over and over that mediating gives me more time in my day. Synchronicity, serendipity, harmony and peace of mind create the space for great ideas and solutions to problems. Who to call, when to go and where; your own Divine intuition enhanced and louder.

My favorite forms are Mindful Walking, sitting on a bench in a garden, Tai chi, taking an almost-nap in the sun, sitting on the sand at the ocean’s edge, walking on the beach or, as the Japanese say, “forest bathing.” Choose a form that works for you. You don’t have to be formally meditating as a Zen Monk to receive the many benefits of stilling your mind and being in your heart– as Eckhart Tolle teaches us in Stillness Speaks.

What I learned from his holiness, The Dalai Lama, is that what he gets from meditation is “nothing.” What he doesn’t get is what is important: he doesn’t get get anger, anxiety and a lack of peace of mind.

He teaches us: “The source of a happy life is within us… Peace of mind is within us; it requires that we develop a warm heart and use our intelligence. People often don’t realize that warmheartedness, compassion, and love are actually factors for our survival.” (From The Dalai Lama on Why Leaders Should Be Mindful, Selfless, and Compassionate, by The he Dalai Lama with Rasmus Hougaard, published in the Harvard Business Review February 20, 2019.)

The photo above demonstrates stillness in movement. The creek is flowing and still and clear at the same time. For me, the clear mirror image in the photo’s picture of stillness is how we reflect our Creator in the stillness. We hear our “still small voice.”

First graders, six- and seven-year-olds, know that trees are people, too. I had the joy of observing this fact one summer when I taught a series of Nature Camps for children. We went to a local park that had seven young coast redwood trees, and I had seven young participants. The instructions for the children were simple: choose a tree, name it, be with it for a while and ask it what would make it more comfortable. All of the children went right to work with no questions asked. Some quickly gathered rocks from the creek bed to make a circle of protection around their tree, and others went to the fountain to get their adopted tree water. I was delighted to hear the names they chose and how quickly each had made friends with their tree and why they had chosen the names.

Many indigenous people call trees the standing people. I feel this way, too.

A few summers ago I was camping in a new place and felt uneasy. My tent was near a very old oak tree. As I was silently standing by it, all of a sudden I saw a spirit-being who jumped out for just a moment and said: “Don’t worry. I will protect you.” Wow.

I had known about dryads, tree spirits, but I had never seen one. That feeling of protection, wonder and the Divine Mystery of Mother Nature stayed with me and brought me comfort.

A delightful book, How to Catch a Fairy, by Gilly Sergiev, reports: “Every tree, bush, or thicket growing has a female dryad and hamadryad spirit joined to it. Able to separate from its wooden host the dryads are the ancient guardians of trees, much communicated with and contacted by Druids for inspiration and advice.”

I hadn’t discovered this book until months after I had the experience with the Dryad near my campsite oak tree. The photo in that book is very similar to the one I had seen, only mine had jet black hair and the one in the book has light auburn hair.

Eckhart Tolle, in Stillness Speaks, reports “Through you nature becomes aware of itself. Nature has been waiting for you, as it were, for millions of years.”

You will easily communicate with trees if you allow a few moments of silence standing next to one. Even better, if there is grass or moist, soft earth underneath your new friend, stand barefoot. Five minutes is plenty to breathe in the prana and enjoy any inspiration or thoughts you receive. Or, ask the tree, “How can I make you more comfortable?” This will get the conversation going. My wish is that you will continue this practice and enjoy the peace, wisdom and joy it will give you.

The photos accompanying this post are of trees in my front yard. Each has a very special healing frequency that I take advantage of often. I asked that they send that bridge of love-light to you. They are two of the 85 varieties of Eucalyptus trees. Eucalyptus can have a bad reputation for breaking limbs, falling over and being messy, though that is only one very common variety. Check into the other 84 varieties that are beautiful with gorgeous flowers and fragrances and not as many “vices.”

Another valuable new (2017) booklet you may enjoy as much as I have is The Wisdom of Trees Oracle: Oracle Cards for Wisdom and Guidance by Jane Struthers. This booklet comes with a deck of beautifully illustrated cards. The booklet contains a section for each of 40 trees on their history, scientific facts, legends around each and message from the Deva of each. Also, Jane explains in detail how to tune into trees. Highly recommended. The quality of the cards, the art and the research included in an easy-to-understand format is that of a much more expensive deck with booklet. Enjoy. The trees are missing you.

Why do we study the Unified Field to create Prosperity? We learned in the previous blog that the wave becomes a particle, or material, when we have our attention on it. The paradox of infinite diversity becoming form is in the practice of Stillness. Sananda teaches us that Beingness is supreme.

Often when I ask a question in prayer I hear, “Be still and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10). This correlates exactly with the quality “Infinite silence,” from Deepak Chopra’s Creating Affluence: Wealth Consciousness in the Field of All Possibilities. “Infinite silence is the mind of God.” When we are in this silence, we have access to Infinite creativity. These Divine ideas lead us on the path of Prosperity to our good.

One day several years ago I had the extreme feeling of hopeless overwhelm. Seemingly no way out to a myriad of problems and the old problem of an empty refrigerator manifesting again. This was in the morning, and my daughter was going to be away for the night. The thought came to me to just sit quietly on the hill outside. I did, even though I thought, “How can I spare the time with so many problems looming?”

I sat right on the Earth and began to feel calmer and more peaceful. A very sweet breeze seemed to be floating my stress and fear away. The peace was wonderful, so I stayed a little longer. Each time I decided to get up, I heard, “Are you free?” So I stayed longer and started to notice nature happily busy.

Hawks, our horses, bees and a little weasel came by and didn’t even notice me, all busy in their work of the day. Nature and Stillness had healed my anxiety. I remained on that hill sitting in the Stillness for several hours.

When I returned to the house I had messages that several of the pressing problems had solutions, and a friend dropped by with bags of groceries. The Unified Field’s quality of “Total Potential of Natural Law” came in to play. “This means all the laws of nature that are structure, that create the infinite diversity of creation are found here in the Unified Field.” Quote from Creating Affluence: Wealth Consciousness in the Field of All Possibilities.

Eckhart Tolle, in Stillness Speaks, also affirms these principles: “You need nature as your teacher to help you reconnect with Being. But not only do you need nature, it also needs you. You are not separate from nature… A great silent space holds all of nature in its embrace. It also holds you.”

Over the years, sitting quietly in a garden or in nature has always brought me the peace, inspiration and joy that have enabled me to create and allow the good and Prosperity that God wants for me. Then the required actions have the space and synchronicity that save time and are a more effective part of the whole.

The Lord God planted a garden, in the first white days of the world, and he set there an angel warden in a garment of light unfurled.

The kiss of the sun for pardon, the song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on Earth.” —Dorothy Frances Gurney

P.S. I haven’t had an empty refrigerator in many years, so these principles do work.

Our bodies are designed to move. Everything in Nature is in constant movement, even if just at the atomic level as in rocks. Breezes, clouds, rivers, oceans, ice flows, leaves, grasses, animals and ….. Us.

We are in constant movement. A very popular Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches many around the world about Being here now while walking (You Are Here, Shambala Press 2009). This alone is a healing, as we are designed to be Joy at our core. Another popular spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle, wrote one of my favorite books about Nature, Stillness Speaks. He writes, “Nature has been waiting for us as it were, for millions of years.”

The movement of walking in Mother Nature enhances all of our systems, heart, lungs, muscles, etc, though the most beneficial part is well-being even if just for a moment. When you walk silently in Nature for just 20 minutes, you arrive at the same frequency of inner peace that you would having meditated, sitting in a room, for the same length of time. The added benefit of being outside is Prana, the energy of pure air from trees, sunshine, flowers, plants, water and the Spirit of Mother Nature. We are designed to walk.

As we see the horizon in the distance, our body and emotions balance themselves. Sananda teaches us to contemplate infinity every day which we do as we see the horizon or star gaze. Watching the sun rise connects you to Mother Earth, and the sunset prepares you for a restful sleep. These activities are so simple but contribute to our wellness, on so many levels, reminding us we are a part of the Whole Earth and universe. We are not looking at nature as a photograph, but are immersed in Mother Nature and are very much a part of it, not separate or isolated from all that is. We each have a very unique part to play upon this alive world.

The photo I took is a Mimosa tree that just for the moment caught the rays of sunlight. I live for the joy of these moments and hope you will, too, in discovering such a simple and fun way to enhance your peace, health, well being, inspiration, clarity and a renewed love of birds, trees, animals and the Elemental world.